The Crusaders
by RevenantReaper337
Summary: In the near future, Doc Terror and his cold blooded companion Havoc unleash their forces to conquer the world. Only one force can stop this threat; three young fillies turned mares. Using specially created Exo-frames from Equestria's hidden technological past and an array of adaptive weapon systems, they become mare and machine. They become... The Crusaders.


**Authors note:**

 **Hey all and welcome to my first foray into crossover territory with perhaps not the first obvious choice anyone's ever had. I actually had this idea a few years back and started writing it up a few dozen words at a time over my lunch breaks, but it wasn't until my recent break from writing Whole Again that I actually had a chance to finally fit all the pieces together and make something coherent.**

 **The premise is something I don't think anyone's ever come up with before, and if the idea takes off I hope to make it into an episodic series as if it were the first season of an actual TV show; complete with intro sequence and the like. For now though, I hope you all enjoy this example of what could be, and let me know what you think.**

 **Disclaimer:**

 **My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, associated characters, organisations, and intellectual properties belong to Hasbro. The Centurions, associated characters, organisations, and intellectual properties belong to Ruby-Spears Enterprises and Sunrise Inc. All other real world organisations and products belong to their respective governments, companies, etc. Original characters, creatures, weapons, etc. belong to me.**

' _Thoughts_ _'_

 _Flashbacks and inflections on words_

"Speech"

* * *

 **Pilot episode / Mare and Machine Part 1**

* * *

The city was in chaos.

A deafening explosion rocked one of Manehatten's skyscrapers, raining a shower of broken glass down on the panicked ponies stampeding through the streets below. The local city guards desperately tried to direct the screaming masses to safety, even as more of their number raced to deal with the cause of the sudden midday mayhem, only to be beaten back by an unprecedented tide of darkness.

Through the smoke and debris came an army of steel; strange metallic creatures that resembled diamond dogs firing beams of energy from their arms, while similarly robotic timber wolves raced forth to chase down anypony in sight. Overhead, vaguely bird-like fliers dominated the city's skyline in droves while a large crimson-painted submersible rose from the depths of Manehatten's harbour like some great shelled beast, before unleashing a barrage of missiles into the nearby docks.

As the city burned under the shocking assault, none present knew that these events were being observed by an unseen eye many miles above. The images of chaos and confusion were beamed directly to a long forgotten cavern deep below Canterlot's foundations; beyond the crystal caves and the reach of most ponies. There in a technological treasure trove of computers, monitors, and devices centuries beyond the imagination of the population above, a single red light blinked on a button festooned panel; the accompanying growling alarm drawing the attention of the cavern's sole occupant.

Sliding towards the panel on a chair kept aloft through the use of micro gravity manipulation was a somewhat odd-looking mare. With a pale whitewashed coat, faded cyan hair that flowed like curtains, and a pair of steely grey eyes, she gave off the air of a razor sharp mind having physically aged before her time. Those same analytical eyes roved back and forth over the bank of monitors once she had killed the alarm, hooves tapping rapidly on the keyboard as the scenes of destruction continued to roll in.

An inquisitive trill from above her left shoulder briefly garnered the mare's attention; eyes flickering towards the canary yellow parasprite hovering there with a curious expression on it's face before concentrating back on the task at hoof. "Manehatten this time... Guess the good doctor is finally stepping up his offensive."

The little yellow bug frowned before releasing a questioning buzz; zipping across her head to settle on the console itself and drawing an eye-rolling sigh from the mare. "I know, Lucy. But I'm sure they'll understand."

It was blatantly clear that the local guards were brutally outmatched, and even if the Equestrian army could respond in time they would fare no better against such a technologically superior military force. There was no other choice, especially since the method of attack made the culprit's identity a nigh certainty. The mare sighed in resignation at what she was about to set in motion; a hoof flipping the translucent cover off of a large red button surrounded by hazard stripes before pushing down hard.

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

It was just another day in the picturesque town of Ponyville. Celestia's sun was shining, the birds were singing, and nary a cloud marred the sky on what was promising to be the start of another wonderful weekend.

On the Apple family's farm, life was proceeding as usual with its residents working hard. Big Macintosh ploughed the southern fields ready for the winter crops, Applejack was unsurprisingly apple bucking in the orchards, and Granny Smith... was taking a nap on the front porch in her rocking chair. In the meantime, Applebloom was trailing after her older sister with a wooden bucket held between her teeth by the handle; one of many destined to catch the multitude of ripe and juicy apples that would soon rain down from the branches above.

A sudden warm tingling sensation around her neck however caused the farm filly to freeze. A faint gasp escaped her muzzle, eyes widening in realisation as the pendant around her neck continued to pulse at regular intervals. Of all the times, why did it have to be now? Biting her lip in indecision, Applebloom spared one last glance at where her sister was hard at work further into the orchard before turning tail and bolting for the Crusaders club house.

It would be a good ten minutes before a furrow-browed Applejack came across the discarded bucket, having already filled her own with the fruits of her labour and wondering what was taking her little sister so long.

"Where in the hay did she get to?"

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

"Woo! Go Rainbow, go!"

On the open fields south of the town, a chromatic streaked blur soared through the blue skies. Pulling a dazzling display of loops, corkscrews, and aerial acrobatics much to the delight of the cheering orange-coated pegasus filly below, Rainbow Dash finished with a flourish before setting down in front of her self-proclaimed number one fan with a confident smirk. "Well squirt, whadya think of that?"

Scootaloo positively beamed at her idol and sister figure with gleaming eyes as she waved her fore legs in excitement. "That was so awesome! With moves like that, the Wonderbolts'll have to take you on!"

Dash couldn't help but preen at the expected praise. "Yeah, well, who wouldn't want Equestria's young flyer of the year in their team? But if you think _that's_ awesome, then check _this_ out!"

So saying, Rainbow Dash lived up to her name by rocketing back into the sky; leaving a prismatic contrail in her wake much to the delight of the cheering filly still sat on the ground. Before she could witness Dash's latest stunt however, a warm tingling sensation from the pendant around Scootaloo's neck gave her pause; realisation dawning as she groaned out loud.

"Seriously? Just when Dash is going for the big one too..."

Scrambling to her scooter, the orange coated filly shot one last look at her life-long idol before revving up her wings and taking off towards Sweet Apple Acres at full speed. An oblivious Rainbow Dash kept up her one mare air display for a full ten minutes, culminating in a power dive driven mini sonic-rainboom, before coming in to land once more.

"Oh yeah, think I'll make that my signature move for the Wonderbolts audition. Whadya think of..." The prismatic-maned mare trailed off seeing as her audience had suddenly disappeared, leaving her to catch her breath while trying to figure out where the filly had gone.

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

"Sweetie Belle darling, could you fetch me those rolls of silk? I seem to have my hooves full."

With a frown of concentration over the reading glasses perched on the end of her muzzle, Rarity hummed in indecision over the half-completed dress draped over a ponyquin in her upstairs studio. There was less than a week before the Canterlot based client needed the extravagant gown for an upcoming ball and she still couldn't decide on what materials to use, let alone the final details!

"Coming!" came the muffled reply, as Sweetie audibly dragged one of the requested rolls of material across the hardwood floor with her teeth.

The elder unicorn winced at the noise, rapidly plucking it from her younger sister's grasp with her magic, and inadvertently dropping the pieces that had been levitating around the ponyquin in the process. This would have been little more than an annoyance had it not been for the fact that said material fell on top of a napping Opalescence. The startled cat knocked into the ponyquin, which promptly teetered over; starting a chain reaction of devastation that left the studio looking like a hurricane had just passed through.

"Oops, sorry Rarity."

The disoriented fashionista managed to rise up from the piles of materials that had covered her; glasses hanging askew as she observed the carnage surrounding her miraculously untouched sister with a slightly twitching eye and a forcefully calm voice.

"Sweetie, why don't you go visit your friends for a while. I'm afraid I have some-" Something expensive sounding fell off a shelf and shattered. "...work to catch up on."

The unicorn filly frowned at the obvious brush off, though she perked up upon realising how she could make it up to her big sister. "Oh! We could all help clean up together! Maybe we can get our cutie marks in-"

"NO!"

A horrified-looking Rarity struggled to regain her composure, knowing that she was liable to not have a home still standing considering the usual results of the Crusaders 'help'. Clearing her throat with a raised hoof, she plastered on a clearly fake smile as she clarified her response; steadily pushing Sweetie out of the room all the while.

"I mean... No, _thank you._ You run along now, I'm sure I'll be just fine."

The door slammed behind the crestfallen filly, the sounds of Rarity's melodrama more than obvious as she no doubt swooned over her fainting couch while proclaiming that this was the 'Worst! Possible! Thing!' Shrugging to herself, Sweetie Belle made her way downstairs only to halt at the bottom when the pendant around her neck began to tingle. Gasping in realisation, she spared a quick glance back to the second floor where her sister was still in hysterics before bolting out the front door and galloping towards the Apple family farm.

It would be a good half hour until the glamorous unicorn finally finished cleaning up and gotten back to work; although it would be significantly later until she realised that Sweetie Belle was no longer at home.

"Well, I did tell her to go see her friends. I just hope they can manage to stay out of trouble... This time."

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Apple Bloom reached the clubhouse first; bolting inside and past what might charitably be called a table - had it not been constructed by the CMC with more enthusiasm than sense - that was used to chair Crusader meetings. Scootaloo followed shortly thereafter, jumping off her scooter before it had even fully come to a halt and tossing her helmet aside as she burst through the door.

A heavily panting Sweetie Belle was close behind a few seconds later, speaking through gasping breaths. "What... happened? Anypony... know?"

"Dunno Sweets, I just got here. Applebloom?"

The pegasus filly directed her question to their earth pony friend, who was currently poking her hoof against several specific knots on the wooden planks that made up the clubhouse's walls. "Ah don't know, but ah reckon we're about ta find out."

Whatever Applebloom was doing seemed to have succeeded, for a panel slid away to reveal a concealed holographic projector. The three soon gathered around as it flickered into life; revealing the rendered 3D image of a familiar white-coated unicorn mare with a faded cyan mane and steel gray eyes. A wistful smile ghosted her lips as she took in the three fillies before her on the opposite end of the uplink, who soon chorused their greetings.

"Howdy Miss Crystal!"

"'Sup Miss Cee?"

"Hi Miss Cortex!"

Crystal Cortex, as the mare was named, chuckled briefly at their exuberance before schooling her features once again. "And a fine morning to you too, girls. Sorry to disturb you on your day off, but duty calls. We have a situation developing in Manehattan."

The Crusaders displayed uncharacteristic seriousness for their age, watching intently as the mare's visage disappeared only to be replaced with satellite imagery of the city in question. Judging by the smoke and flames coming from the coastal sections of the city, along with the occasional flash amongst and above the streets, it was pretty clear that the city was under attack. "Doc Terror is up to his old tricks and has launched a simultaneous amphibious and air assault. The city has already suffered extensive damage and the local guards are being overwhelmed."

"Doesn't this guy know when to quit?" Scootaloo openly scowled at the ongoing scenes of destruction as she voiced the one question they were all thinking. "What's he want with Manehatten anyway?"

"Unknown at this time," Crystal answered as the display flipped between select still images and live video footage, before settling on the crimson vessel floating in the bay area. "But judging by the outgoing signals, the submersible in the bay appears to be a command vessel of sorts, and is likely directing the Terror drones attack. A decisive strike should curtail their combat capabilities, but the priority as always is on preventing further civilian casualties. I need you girls suited up and on the ground immediately."

Applebloom gave a curt nod as she reached up to firmly push the pendant around her neck; an action mirrored by both Sweetie and Scootaloo, and one which resulted in the clubhouse being filled with a brief, blinding flash of light that died down just as quickly. Now standing in their place however was a trio of distinctly larger Crusaders who appeared to be around a decade older; each clad from nose to tail in a distinctly coloured, armoured exoskeleton suit that left not a hint of flesh bare.

As if they had done so many times before, the Crusaders stepped closer together and a series of runes carved into the wooden floor around them alighted with the familiar signature of a teleportation spell; Applebloom's voice sounding much more mature as she nodded towards their benefactress' projected hologram. "Don't worry Miss Crystal, we're on our way."

The pale-looking mare's image bobbed its head in return before finally cutting off the link. "I'll have your standard assault packages lined up and ready. Good luck Crusaders."

With a hum of power and a blinding flash the three fillies were gone; the runes returning to their previously inert state and projector neatly folded away just as a thoroughly flummoxed Applejack stuck her head around the door frame.

"What in tarnation was that?"

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary in the clearly deserted clubhouse, the Stetson wearing pony briefly narrowed her eyes before turning tail and heading back towards the farmhouse. Wherever Applebloom was she would have to come home eventually; and when she did Applejack intended to give her a good talking to about taking responsibility seriously.

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

"Get that fire out! Move it!"

In spite of acting Fire Chief Ember's attempts to coral the ponies around him however, the Manehatten city docks were still consumed with fire and getting worse by the minute. Bucket chains had been established, and some enterprising unicorns had taken to ferrying telekinesis powered balls of water to the worst affected areas, but it still wasn't having any kind of impact. Worst still was that damnable ship out in the bay, sporadically launching missiles at the larger warehouses lining the shoreline and quite literally adding fuel to the fire; not to mention all the fleeing ponies from Manehatten itself pouring into the docks to escape the metal army that still besieged their city and were now almost on top of their precarious position.

Things were looking bleak indeed, and with the increasing number of casualties being brought into the pitiful triage station that had been set up near one of the dock's as yet undemolished storage sheds, it was clear that the city guards wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer. Sureshot, a pegasus guard lieutenant whom he was coordinating with, had already explained that reinforcements wouldn't be coming anytime soon; the city's newfangled emergency radio broadcast system not able to get a signal out before the tower was destroyed, and the nearest Equestrian army base was at least two days march away even if somepony had gotten the message in time.

What they needed right now was nothing short of a miracle; and unless Celestia herself was wiling to grace Manehatten with her presence and an army of royal guards, then it was just a matter of time before-

Chief Ember snapped out of his mental funk as an odd crackling noise permeated the air; several other ponies nearby also stopping to stare and bearing witness to a flash of brilliant white light on an unoccupied section of the docks right near the waterline. Once the light had died down and he'd managed to blink the spots out of his eyes, the earth pony felt his breath hitch and hopes soar at the sight before him; a ragged cheer going up from the surrounding throngs of refugees and rescue workers as a trio of heavily armoured mares stood tall where they had teleported in.

Some called them heroes, while others considered them a problem on par with Doc Terror himself. Heck, Celestia herself was rumoured to want them brought in, and had allegedly signed an arrest warrant to that effect. But there was one thing all agreed upon, and that was the name those three ponies had chosen for themselves; one that had stuck since their first appearance seemingly a lifetime ago.

The Crusaders.

All Chief Ember knew as he rushed to greet them with Sureshot in tow was that he had just gotten his miracle, and that the maniacal mechanical mastermind behind this attack was about to have a very bad day.

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

Rose Petal ran through the shattered streets of Manehattan, glass crunching underhoof as she shepherded her little filly along while desperately trying to outpace those things chasing them down. They had gotten separated from the herd of ponies fleeing from the downtown area when the metal monsters attacked the city guards attempting to evacuate the growing crowd. Panic had ensued and everypony had scattered, making it easier for the mechanical horrors stalking the streets to run them down.

And now here she was, alone and afraid. Gasping breaths escaping her mouth and heart firmly lodged in her throat with sheer terror as the cold metal beasts herded them into a dead end alley. Petrified as Rose was however, she still had the presence of mind to shield her little girl with her body as turned to stare down their pursuers who were now blocking their only exit. The pair of metal timber wolves stalked forth slowly, eyes glowing crimson and mouths agape with razor sharp teeth as they closed in on their prey.

"Mama?" the little fuchsia-coated filly fearfully asked her mother, only to receive a tearful hug in return.

"Don't look sweetheart, just don't look."

Just before the mechanical wolves were about to pounce on the helpless ponies however, something dropped behind them with enough force to crack the concrete sidewalk. Eyes wide, Rose Petal gasped at the sight of the heavily armoured pony stood defensively before her; its body covered from head to tail with contoured, desert-camouflaged metal plates that left nothing exposed.

A pair of strange metal boxes were mounted on either flank, along with a truly massive object on its back from which three long tubes protruded; a smaller pair of pipes mounted on its right foreleg while a small bulge sat on the left. It was the strange pony's head however that held Rose's attention the most; a pair of glowing amber eyes staring back from behind a grilled visor that covered a majority of its otherwise smooth face. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the metal pony spoke up with a synthesised but clearly feminine voice.

"Hey!" The mechanised Wolves spun around to face the newcomer with hackles raised; the trio of tubes on the armoured mare's back beginning to spin up with a mechanical whir. "Why don't y'all pick on somepony ya own size?"

The metallic beasts lunged forth and thunder roared. Rose Petal clutched her filly tightly and hit the deck as the metal pony's spinal-mounted weapon spat a stream of green fire; shredding both wolves to pieces before they had even taken two strides. Three more came from further down the street, racing ahead of a squad of the diamond dog-like robots that were already filling the air with ruby red beams of energy as they closed in. The metal boxes on either of the armoured mare's flanks, clearly another weapon of some kind, flipped open towards the front; her synthesized voice clear over the din of battle as she briefly looked back towards mother and filly.

"Go! Head towards the docks! Ah'll keep ya covered!"

Her words were punctuated by a pillar of flame streaking from one of the flank-mounted boxes followed by another from its counterpart; both arcing up at a slight angle before splitting apart into multiple projectiles that rained down into the advancing wolves' path and exploded spectacularly.

Rose Petal wasted no time in scooping up her filly and taking off in the opposite direction; the younger pony holding on tightly to her mother's neck as they fled from where the one mare wrecking crew was currently tearing their pursuers apart. Disappearing around the street corner, the fleeing mare's ears perked up at a sudden shout up ahead; relief flooding her veins as a city guardspony waved her past a crudely erected barricade and into an evacuation area.

Safely amongst ponies once more, Rose nigh collapsed with exhaustion from their panicked flight; letting a unicorn medic look her over while the little fuchsia-coated filly that had slid off her back snuggled up in an attempt to comfort her mother. "Mama, who was that robot pony?"

The tired mare managed a relieved smile as she replied. "I don't know sweetheart, but I wish I could thank them."

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

Seeing that the two frightened civilians had made to safety on her helmet's sensor suite, the armoured mare continued to cut loose with her spinal-mounted Gatling gun while cancelling the bubble shield she had been using to shelter them from fire. Concealed jets boosted her heavy frame to one side as her left hoof lashed out; plasma blade flaring into life and neatly bisecting the titanium wolf leaping past before turning tail and unleashing another pair of cluster rockets at the squad of devil dogs attempting to outflank her.

Checking the active radar and bio sensor displays on her HUD for anymore contacts, she opened an encrypted com channel while pushing the Ursa class exo-frame deeper into Manehatten at a fast trot. "Applebloom here: Just cleared out the docks evac site and headin' downtown. How's it lookin' up there Scoots?"

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

High above the Manehatten skyline, a formation of broad-winged, bird-like drones scattered as a vaguely blue blur screamed through the centre at mach two; one going down in flames and the rest whirling around to face their attacker. The pony in question was clad in a much sleeker and streamlined exo-frame than her ground-bound counterpart; the jagged sky camouflage pattern clearly discernable as she bled off speed in a high speed turn.

A pair of fixed, slightly swept metal wings encompassed the pegasus' own while a single jet turbine sat upon her back; providing more than enough power to outrun even Rainbow Dash in a power dive, while subtle muscle movements allowed her to change angle and pitch at incredibly high speeds. The helmet was equally as streamlined as the exo-frame itself, but utilized a COFFIN system in lieu of a visor; dozens of embedded cameras providing the pegasus with a complete 360 degree view and allowing her to lock on to enemies at any angle.

"Kinda crowded, but I'm working on it," Scootaloo responded; pausing momentarily to jink away from a cannon burst and opening up with her twin barrel-mounted guns in return. "Definitely got their attention though."

A line of scalding holes stitched across one of the drone fighters from nose to tail as it banked sharply away; trailing a black cloud of hydraulic fluid in its wake and leaving its wingmate exposed to a head on missile shot. The armoured pegasus barrel-rolled through the resulting fireball and pulled into a steep vertical climb, two more of the bird-like constructs following in pursuit and unleashing a quartet of heat-seekers apiece that rapidly streaked towards their prey.

"Need any help?"

"Nah, I'm good," Scootaloo shot back; calmly watching the chasing plumes of smoke via a small window on her HUD and waiting for them to get close.

At the last possible second, she angled her wings to produce drag and cut the throttle; flipping over onto her back while releasing a spread of flares. The prematurely detonating missiles formed a temporary smokescreen as the pegasus sped back down to face her pursuers; corkscrewing through a barrage of bullets only to slip between her foes with inches to spare. Pointing her fore-hooves backwards, Scootaloo waited for the attached missiles to lock on before sending both streaking up the drone's flaring exhausts with no room to evade.

Levelling off, the pegasus ace caught sight of the one she had previously strafed limping off with a trail of black hydraulic fluid following in its wake; her radar display picking up more reinforcements inbound and adjusting course accordingly. "Probably gonna be busy for a while, though. Any idea how Sweets is doing?"

* * *

 **{()}**

* * *

From the depths of Manehatten bay rose a vaguely equine shape; the water muffling any sounds as a pony clad in a sea green, tiger stripe patterned exo-frame briefly broke the surface near to an off shore buoy before settling back down a few feet below. Markedly different than the other two variants currently doing battle within the Manehatten city limits, this particular version was clearly designed to be amphibious; a pair of external hydro-jets attached to the hind legs that complemented the smaller ones discreetly built into the sharply angled frame.

A much larger turbine sat upon the armoured pony's back; the flanking launch tubes on either side each containing a single protruding torpedo that pointed over the suit's slightly bulbous helmet with its tinted, non-reflective face plate and armoured protrusion for a unicorn's horn. Rounding out the exo-frame's armaments was an barrel-mounted cannon and fore-hoof laser cutter; the former firing oxygen propelled solid shells, while the latter was designed for slicing through and welding metal underwater.

Right now though, Sweetie Belle was making good use of the small periscope built into her Kraken class exo-frame to observe the crimson-painted vessel occupying Manehatten bay while remaining undetected; the nearby buoy helping to mask her armour's signature from any passive sonar sweeps. The unicorn's own sensor package on the other hoof was working overtime; correlating the gathered data and displaying the resulting visual data on her protected HUD while highlighting any potential threats. Before she could act on the information however, the sudden crackle of static in her helmet's speakers made the unicorn jolt in surprise as Applebloom's voice blared through the otherwise nigh silent confines.

"Sweetie Belle? Ya there?"

"Shh! Not so _loud!_ " the partially deafened filly-turned-mare ground out; the sounds of multiple explosions in the background indicating her earth pony friend was still in the thick of battle. "They'll probably hear you all the way back in Ponyville."

"Sorry, things have been kinda busy over here," the ground assault specialist replied between bouts of rapid cannon fire. "We were just wonderin' how ya doin' on your end is all."

"Yeah, I could probably do this all day Sweets, but I'm startin' to run out of ammo," Scootaloo cut in from where she was still embroiled in a dogfight far above. "You ready to take out that sub yet?"

A chime on her projected HUD drew Sweetie Belle's attention to the displayed firing solution, the result of several calculations that took multiple factors into account. A faint smile of satisfaction stole across her face as she fired up the hydro-jets and prepared to finally execute her part in this mission. "I am now. Hang tight girls; fish away in five seconds."

The amphibious operations specialist shot forward through the waves with a noticeable displacement of water that was soon picked up by the enemy command vessel and its escorts who acted accordingly; the allotted time rapidly ticking down on Sweetie's HUD display until it blinked to zero. Twin back-mounted launch tubes disgorged their deadly cargo with a flurry of oxygenated bubbles, both homing torpedoes streaking forth on an intercept course that would see them avoid the hastily deployed torpedo nets surrounding their target before closing in.

The surfaced pair of Piranha class mini subs defending it however were another story; their deck-mounted machine guns attempting to overwhelm the incoming torpedoes with saturated fire, while vertical launch missiles streaked forth from recessed ports towards the still closing Kraken class exo-frame. Sweetie Belle however had already anticipated such a move and acted accordingly; diving deeper towards the bay floor and deploying countermeasures. A magically produced, mostly translucent duplicate soon shadowed the armoured unicorn from above; maintaining enough solidity to take the missile impacts before dissipating entirely and allowing her to close into gun range.

The barrel-mounted cannon thundered twice beneath the waves; twin magically imbued tungsten slugs punching through the nearest sub's hull at incredible speed as if it were tin foil, before detonating in a spectacular plume of water and fragmented metal. The second Piranha class met a similar fate mere moments later in spite of it's barrage of fire and evasive course, Sweetie electing to lead the sub and strike its hull amidships with another cannon volley before turning her attention back to the command vessel just as her torpedo salvo reached it.

A fiery explosion engulfed the massive submersible's port side, causing it to list badly as water began to rush through the gaping hull breach and overwhelm its tanks. More importantly however, the command vessel wasn't going to be firing anymore missiles from its vertical launch tubes at Manehatten thanks to the increasingly extreme angle of its deck; and the sea of incoming data being relayed to the drone armies rampaging through Manehatten was cut off for good shortly thereafter by her barrel-mounted cannons punching through the conning tower.

"Good hits, the sub's going down!"

"Nice work, Sweetie," Crystal's voice rang out over their encrypted communications channel. "All transmissions from the sub are confirmed to have ceased and there doesn't appear to be any additional command uplinks active in the Manehatten area, so the Terror drones will have to fall back on their default programming." There was a brief pause and an audible clacking of a keyboard as the older mare doubtlessly shifted through her numerous data feeds before continuing. "Remaining forces appear to be concentrated on both the bay side and central park, but it looks like there's still city some city guards and civilians trapped in-between. Make sure to watch your fire down there, Crusaders."

"Don't you worry none Miss Crystal, we'll have those ponies outta there 'fore you know it," Applebloom responded with enthusiastic determination before addressing the rest of her team.. "Alright girls, what say we wrap this up and head on home?"

"Got that right," Scootaloo shot back with an audible grin. "Clear skies comin' right up!"

"I'll move in from the coast and meet you in the middle," Sweetie added while putting actions to her words; submerging once more and making best speed back towards Manehatten itself while keeping a close eye out for any additional naval forces. "Just leave any ships to me."

Like the well oiled unit that they were, the Crusaders continued their fight to save Manehatten from the mechanical army that besieged it; driven by their purpose of protecting the world from those that would do it harm. But how did this situation come to pass in the first place? Who was the mysterious mastermind behind this attack, or the reclusive Crystal Cortex? And where exactly did three ordinary fillies manage to obtain perhaps the single most advanced weapon system ever devised; the technology behind which was centuries ahead of anything Equestria could hope to achieve?

To find the answers to these questions and more, one must first journey back to the beginning. Before a shadow from Equestria's buried past arose to wreck havoc on the present once more, and a trio of young fillies discovered something that would change their lives, forever...

* * *

 **So yeah, that was a thing. Like I said, this is just me getting the idea out there an doesn't represent the final quality of what I want to do, but hopefully it's given you all some food for thought. Let me know what you think, and if the concept is popular enough then I'll see what I can do about putting a mini series into production.**

 **Until next time, please review and check out my other stories once they** **'** **re posted and/or updated.**

 **Thanks for reading**

 **\- RevenantReaper337**


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